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Literary notes about finite (AI summary)

The word "finite" is widely deployed in literature to mark boundaries—whether those of human understanding, physical form, or existential condition. Philosophers like John Locke ([1], [2], [3], [4]) and Kant ([5], [6]) use the term to define the inherent limits of human knowledge and the material world, contrasting finite perceptions with the concept of the infinite. Similarly, William James ([7], [8], [9], [10]) and Santayana ([11], [12], [13]) explore finitude as a central feature of human life, suggesting that our restricted experiences and ideals both limit us and propel us toward growth. Moreover, even in literary and rhetorical contexts—evident in works ranging from Dale Carnegie’s observations on the “finite mind” ([14], [15]) to poetic expressions that evoke the tension between the finite and the boundless ([16])—the term serves as a potent reminder of our mortal confines and the perpetual allure of the infinite.
  1. Besides, that punctum stans, if it signify anything, being not quantum, finite or infinite cannot belong to it.
    — from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke
  2. But when applied to any particular finite beings, the extension of any body is so much of that infinite space as the bulk of the body takes up.
    — from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke
  3. If matter be finite, it must have its extremes; and there must be something to hinder it from scattering asunder.
    — from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke
  4. 2. FINITE INTELLIGENCES.
    — from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 by John Locke
  5. “No finite Reason can hope to understand the production of even a blade of grass by mere mechanical causes” (p. 326).
    — from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant
  6. For a rational but finite being, the only thing possible is an endless progress from the lower to higher degrees of moral perfection.
    — from The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant
  7. By taking it abstractly I mean placing it behind our finite life as we place the word 'winter' behind to-night's cold weather.
    — from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James
  8. This for rationalism is but the illusion of the finite and relative: the absolute ground of things is a perfection eternally complete.
    — from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James
  9. We cannot therefore methodically join the tough minds in their rejection of the whole notion of a world beyond our finite experience.
    — from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James
  10. Weigh, then, your infinite gain if I am genuine against your finite sacrifice if I am not!"
    — from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James
  11. An absolute preference for knowledge or self-consciousness would be an unmistakably human and finite ideal—something to be outgrown.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  12. Such ideals would be finite, they would arrest the flux, and they would try to break loose from their enveloping conditions.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  13. Each recurrence is one of a finite series and holds for ever its place and number in that series.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  14. You may be sure, then, that the frail finite mind of your audience will likewise demand rest.
    — from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein
  15. Who am I that I should attempt to measure the arm of the Almighty with my puny arm, or to measure the brain of the Infinite with my finite mind?
    — from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein
  16. Lost at a depth which, to my finite understanding, appeared to be immeasurable.
    — from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

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